Life is a Highway
by Dar-cxo
Summary: What do you get when you stick 11 girls and 9 guys on 4 tour buses for a reality show?... a WHOLE lot of drama that's what!


What do you get when you stick 5 random girls together to form a band? An extra 6 girls, a tour bus, and a full camera crew that's what. My names Dar-c, Lead Vocalist of the group, "Elite" and the co-founder. I've been in the entertainment business all my life... seriously, my dad has been a famous record/television producer since before I was born. I grew up around some of the hottest acts, listening to their music day in and day out. Which came to no surprise to my father when I told him I wanted to be a musician. He was scared at first for me... He knew how harsh the music business was and probably asked me about a million times if I was completely serious about it. Finally when he agreed I knew I had to come up with a plan. Since I've been in the entertainment business I know that you need to be different than any other band... You need to catch everyone off guard and make people come back screaming for more. One day as I was sitting watching Big Brother my mom came in and said, "Wouldn't it be cool if you had a camera crew following you around all the time?" and that's when it hit me. This idea was going to be a hit! Not even before my mom could finish I bolted out of the room and to my dad's office. "Dad I've got it..." I said breathing heavily from running up the 3 flights of stairs from the basement. "You've got what?" he asked curiously... You would think that he would be a bit more on the ball than that... "The idea! The way to make my band a huge success!" I said sitting down in one of the chairs in front of his desk. I hated those chairs... you would think with the money we had he could afford to buy comfier ones... "You do now do you? And a band? I thought you wanted to go solo?" he asked me. I tried adjusting myself in the chair again, "I thought a band would be more I don't know... less Disneyish... but that's beside the point! This idea is going to be great! Everyone will love it!" I said quickly... I don't know why I was waiting this long to tell him... I should have just blurted it out in the first place, "I thought you liked Disney? Anyways, what is your unbelievably amazing idea?" He said raising his bushy eyebrow at me. Taking a deep breath I smiled, "Well you know how many reality shows there are now a days... Like Living Lohans, Living the Dream, John and Kate Plus 8... But have you ever seen a reality show about a band?" I said with sort of an evil sound to it. What was I trying to do take over the world? Gosh I could be so dramatic sometimes. "Uh yeah... Making the band shows by Sean... you knew that," he said. I swear sometimes I wondered how he got this far in life. "No dad that's a reality game like show! I meant one where cameras just follow you around and see what you're doing!" I saw my dad about to cut me off but I continued to talk... I wasn't much for taking turns, "What if I got a group of girls together with their friends and brought them on a tour around the country for 3 months! We could maybe get another band to open for us or we can open up for them or whatever!" I sat there patiently now waiting for his response... Even though I knew what he was going to say. "Oh Dar-c I don't kno-" I cut him off, "Dad just hear me out! I know it might sound bad at first but just listen... I do a bunch of auditions of girls to form a band. We will spend 2 to 3 months writing a bunch of songs to have just in time for the summer to play on tour and in that time we'll get to know one another etc. They will all be pretty much around the same age as me too. Oh and they get to bring ONE of their friends along for the ride... Every day will be filmed by a camera crew following us around from let's say from the time we wake up till an hour after the show or what ever... Then the tapes for the week will go to the editing room and they edit for a week and then the show is put on the air." I said looking at him eagerly. I knew he would have to like this idea. "That's a great idea Hun..." he said slowly... I knew there was a but coming up... I just knew it. "But," I told you there was a but... "I don't know... I mean I'm working all the time here and your mothers working as well and I'm not sure if we would really want you on tour for 3 months without a legal guardian for you..." Ugh... parents always had to be the ones to ruin the fun, "But dad you don't have to! I'm 19 and I'll pick girls who are 18 so we can all go on our own without their parents! And besides we'll have cameras on us almost 24/7 so you'll be able to see what is going on! You can review all the tape yourself before it goes on the air!" I said hoping to change his mind. "Hmm well you do bring up a good point... But first let me get in contact with some people who could help... Are you sure you want to do this? There's no going back now if you say yes..." Why did he have to make this sound like I was making a decision that was going to ruin my life? "Yes dad I want to do this... More than anything I've even wanted to do before..." I said with confidence. I knew this plan was going to work. Every kid wanted to know what happened behind the scene and what really went down after their shows between the band members. But then I remembered something... We didn't have a fan base to come to the shows... heck I didn't even have a band! "Wait dad..." I said before he had fully walked out of the office to go get his contact list, "yes?" he said in the sort of tone as if he thought I was going to back out of it right then and there, "We need to open up for a HUGE band..." I said looking at him. "Why's that?" he asked me a bit confused. "Well... obviously I'm not in a band yet... which means I don't have a fan base yet... So if we open up for another band that's already big and has a fan base maybe we can get them to like us as well..." I said to him hoping he would agree. "Ok sounds like an idea... and I think I have just the band... But first sweetheart write out everything you want to happen and what not so I'll have something to pitch to the producers at Disney and ABC ok?" I just shook my head vigorously and ran out of the room with the biggest smile on my face imaginable not forgetting of course to give my dad a huge hug on the way out. I ran to my room and started to type out my pitch on the computer instantly. And that's how it all started... how my idea came to life... Everything worked out perfect. Disney and ABC absolutely loved the idea saying it was unique and a great way to let kids know what happens behind the scenes on tours. The camera crew was small which was just the way I liked it... I didn't want to have 20 people following me around constantly... 4 would be just enough. I found the PERFECT 4 girls to join me on this once in a life time journey, Stacie, Valerie, Marlee, and Mandy. All 4 of them are great and I felt a great connection from them when I was auditioning them. The cool thing is they're all from Michigan which will be great when we play there. Stacie's the guitarist. She's a quirky one that's for sure! So is her best friend Arielle. Those two are like identical twins in the brain. They both are random but so much fun to be around... I swear even if someone had just died in front of us Arielle would find some sort of way to make us laugh. Then there's Valerie, or Val for short. She's an amazing Drummer let me tell yeah! She puts those wannabe drummer boys in other bands to shame I swear. Not only that but she's amazing at sports, definitely Volleyball. She's the sporty one of the group. She's bringing her friend Amanda along with her too. She's a pretty sweet girl also, sort of quiet but that will only be at first probably. Give it time and soon she will open up and be just as wild and crazy as the rest of us. Then there's Marlee the keyboard/piano guru. Her fingers move up and down those keys so fast I can't even see her move! She's unbelievable! She also had the hardest parents to convince to let her go on tour with us... They didn't want her to go on tour at all to begin with but then me and my dad talked to them and they agreed to it as long as they could see most of the video tape as well to see what their daughter was doing every day... over protective much? But oh well I guess that's sort of a good thing... I mean she is coming on the bus with a bunch of complete strangers... Her parents were happy though when we said she could bring a friend along for the tour with us. Not even without hesitation all 3 of them said the same name at the exact same time, Erin. Apparently she's really mature for her age and if anyone needed to keep us girls in order it was her. I was a bit nervous at first because honestly I didn't want a control freak on my tour... I wanted to have fun! But when Marlee and I went off to just talk by ourselves she assured me that she wasn't a control freak... just the kind of person that always tried to make the right decisions. She wasn't the one to start drama or go out partying to risk the whole tour. Which I was very happy about cause that was the only thing I was truly worried about... Drama... it's something I did not and will not tolerate on the tour... And last but not least there's Mandy the bassist. Man is she a trip! She's so funny! And not to mention the most amazing bass player I've never seen! When I first saw her at auditions I knew I wanted her on right away... She loved the whole friend thing but she asked if she could bring her dog along with her as well... Lucky was his name. At first I was a little bit unsure about it but when we went to talk to her parents and I got to see her dog I told her she could. Lucky was a golden retriever that would rather lick you to death than bite you to death. I told her as long as he's not sleeping in my bunk then he could come along for the tour. So Mandy technically got to bring along 2 friends. Her other friend was Jenna. Jenna was a really nice girl and was even at Mandy's audition with her. I love how friends are always there for one another. She seemed like a really great girl and just the kind that you could sort of go to if you had a problem which I knew after meeting all these girls there was going to be at least a few of them. But there you have it! That's our line up for the show! Oh I almost forgot my friends I'm bringing along with me! Yeah "friends"... I'm bringing 2 of them... I couldn't just choose 1! Their names are Savannah and Jen. Savannahs more of the edgy rocker type girl and isn't afraid to take a little risk which I love. I wonder how her and Erin are going to get along together... the good girl and the rebel girl... that's going to give us an extra 10% rating increase I can just see it now. And then there's Jen, one girl I've known since birth. Both our parents have known each other before we were born so it wasn't hard trying to convince her mom to let her go on tour. She was one of those moms that would trust you would do that right thing... which Jen always did. So yeah NOW that's our final line up! 12 girls 2 buses and 3 months on the road... but what wouldn't get more ratings than adding another group to the show? Since Disney is funding it we were able to get one of the biggest acts around to come along for the ride... now with 12 girls, 3 guys (and 6 of their closest guy friends), 4 coach buses, more trucks than you can imagine, and 3 months on the road with one of the greatest bands alive... this is going to be one heck of a tour... one that everyone will be able to see up close and personal which will star none other than Elite and... The Jonas Brothers... This is going to be fun...


End file.
